Pages

Search This Site

15 June 2016

National Geographic Releases First Image of Tim Matheson as President Ronald Reagan

Killing Reagan, the 336-page book about the 1981 Ronald Reagan assassination attempt, heads toward the small screen this fall.

The National Geographic Channel is adapting Fox News host Bill O'Reilly's book, Killing Reagan, into a TV movie. Various locations in and around Atlanta are being utilized by film crews as production nears completion.

National Geographic released the first photo of Tim Matheson in the lead role of President Ronald Reagan ahead of the movie's fall premiere.

(Tim Matheson stars as the 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan, in the National Geographic Channel's upcoming TV movie "Killing Reagan," based on the Bill O'Reilly book. Photo Credit: National Geographic Channels/Hopper Stone. )

Killing Reagan explores how the attempted assassination on the newly elected president impacted his time in office. From the final, hotly contested months leading up to his 1980 election, the movie explores Reagan’s journey to the nation’s highest office and the challenges he faced to define himself as a leader. During this time, the mental health and obsessive tendencies of his would-be assassin, John Hinckley, unravel — leading up to that fateful day in 1981.

“Even nearly 30 years after his presidency, and more than 10 years after his death, Ronald Reagan’s mark on American politics and the global geopolitical landscape, through both his actions and his policies, still reverberates today,” said Bill O’Reilly. “There is much that can be learned by looking back at that riveting period in history.”

Killing Reagan premieres on National Geographic Channel in the U.S. this fall, and around the world early next year in 170 countries and 45 languages.